Door County Veterans train in the same Incident Commnad and Control System (ICS) that's required training for all US law enforcement, fire fighters, emergency government, and homeland security personnel! !

Door County
Veterans, many former fire fighters, law enforcement, and EMTs stand
ready to deploy if professional first responders are overwhelmed, show
signs of " burned out", mutual aid agreements are exhausted, or the
incident' duration exceeds 14 days. DCVets deploy under the same
Incident Command System (ICS) used by all US fire fighters, law
enforcement, emergency government, and homeland security personnel.

The Post'
Commander closest to the incident' "Hot Zone" takes command
representing all Door County veterans makes contact with the Emergency Operation Center for a
briefing from the local fire chief, and acts as a liaison for other
post' commanders. Click here to enlist in a
post near you.

FYI: In
the US the local fire chief is always considered the primary Incident
Commander representing the municipality and its citizens. States in the
US are all "Home Rule" States meaning the municipality in which the
incident occurs is primarily responsible for all response and recovery
efforts. The local Fire Chief therefore always takes command, assesses
the situation and determines whether a "single" or "unified command is
needed.

The Incident
Command System (ICS) dates back to the turn of the century when states
flooded each year by the Colorado River joined forces and launched the
Boulder/Hoover Dam project. The ICS was formally adopted by fire fighters in the
1940's to fight forest fires traveling across municipal' boundaries.
Since the terrorist attack on 9-11-01, Incident Command and Control has
become required teaching for all US fire fighters, law enforcement,
emergency government, and homeland security personnel. A growing number
of agencies now use every incident, no mater how minor, to practice the
ICS and National Incident Management System (NIMS) protocols. The first
words spoken by the first person at the scene are: "I Take Command!"

FYI, Door County
in Wisconsin, Pitkin County in Colorado, and Jamaica were used as
geographical models to build what's now revered to as Shift #4 during
any natural disaster, terrorist attack, pandemic, or community wide
crisis. All represent geographies having concentrated populations with limited avenues to escape or
evacuate. All have seasonal shifts in population representing high
profile terrorist targets. All have professional first responders
trained and equipped to safeguard smaller local populations part of the
year and larger tourist populations during tourist' season.

I used veteran'
organizations because veterans come with a common bond and common focused
on safeguarding and service. They also come experienced in military
protocol, operational exercises, and deployment practices. All come with
both a military occupational specialty (MOS) and understanding of
Incident Command and Control.

During any
community crisis, veterans use ICS and NIMS protocols each time they deploy
so each response will compliment and reinforce those made by
fire fighters, emergency governments and law enforcement. For example,
Click here for a debriefing on deployments during the Ellison Bay gas
explosions and Click here for briefings on Operation "Bucket Brigade"
during Egg Harbor's Pumpkin Patch and Sister Bay's Fall Festival 2006.

Rich Woldt CEO-The Risk Management Learning
Center

CIRT' field-training is conducted
during major community events. Veteran' posts closest to "ground zero"
or most involved in the event are used staffing Incident Command,
Safety-Information-Liaison Officers, Chiefs of Operations - Planning -
Logistics and Finance, and Staging Area Managers for Life Safety -
Communications - Transportation/Housing in place, and Recovery -
Reconstruction. Each training exercise begins with a potential
"worst-case-scenario" and "mission statement." Follow are a few examples
of training operations conducted during 2005 and 2006: